As the European Union begins preparing for a widespread outbreak of the avian flu virus after reports of the first European case in Turkey, health experts in America say the threat is not imminent but that they are readying for a possible outbreak in the States.
In Asia, the virus has infected 117 people and killed 60, putting the death rate at about 50 percent, according to The New York Times.
Although the bird flu is fatal for humans, according to a press release issued by Roche, the company that distributes the drug Tamiflu, treatment can stop the progression of the virus if administered within 36 hours of contracting the disease.
In a press conference on Oct. 4, President Bush discussed the threat of an avian flu pandemic and the significance of encouraging the manufacturing capacity of the country for a vaccine.
“It would be helpful if we had a breakthrough in the capacity to develop a vaccine that would enable us to feel comfortable here at home that not only would first responders be able to be vaccinated, but as many Americans as possible and people around the world,” Bush said.
According the Centers for Disease Control’s website, to counter a possible bird flu outbreak, U.S. officials must do more than increase production of the flu drug.
An Oct. 8 article in The New York Times reported that the Bush administration introduced a worst-case scenario plan estimating more than 1.9 million American deaths if the bird flu mutated to become transferable from human to human. The article also said if the disease spreads, hospitals would be overwhelmed with an influx of patients, riots would ensue and food and power supply would be limited.
Joseph Allen, director of J.S. Waterman ‘ Sons funeral home on Commonwealth Avenue, said although he is concerned about the issue, the Federal Emergency Management Agency — not funeral homes — would be responsible for handling the repercussions of an outbreak.
“FEMA would make preparations for those types of things,” Allen said. “They have a Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team. It’s the same teams that work on [the bodies of people killed during] Hurricane Katrina.”
FEMA spokeswoman Barbara Ellis said local governments are responsible for retrieving bodies.
“We don’t do the avian flu,” Ellis said. “DMORT is responsible for [processing] the remains only … they don’t identify, they don’t do autopsies — those are done by local medical examiners. We aren’t responsible for that.”
After President Bush and FEMA received criticism for their response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Disease Research and Policy, told Good Morning America last month that a bird flu pandemic would overwhelm government resources.
“Pandemics of influenza are a lot like hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes,” Osterholm said. “We’ve learned that the virus actually causes massive infection in humans…[and] turns on one’s immune system in such a way that it alternately attacks the organs in the body.”
According to Osterholm, all influenza pandemics have varying characteristics, and the avian flu in Southeast Asia shares many characteristics with the flu pandemic of 1918 that killed 50 to 100 million people.
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